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Gifs are changing the music video as we know it

Everyone loves gifs. We love to text them, to tweet them, and to set them as our Gchat statuses. The gif is a fun format, but could it change the way we create music videos?

In this video playlist, PBS Idea Channel shows us just how much the gif’s looping imagery has infiltrated the music video industry. Not only are our music videos showing actual loops, like in Adrian Sieber’s “Round Round” video, but music videos are also making direct references to famous gifs now.

The most interesting thing about this display is how many of these references are so easy to miss completely. Gifs have become so common and such a big part of popular culture so quickly that their inclusion in music videos went almost unnoticed. But Idea Channel noticed, and it made this playlist for us to notice, too.

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